Once acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers before the NBA trade deadline last March, Ramon Sessions was given an opportunity to play for the one of the most successful franchises in the league. It was an opportunity of a lifetime for Sessions to play alongside Kobe Bryant and cure the point guard problems for the Lakers, but the opportunity was short-lived due to his contract situation.
Sessions ultimately decided to opt-out of the final year of his deal in an attempt to sign a long-term extension with the Lakers or another team if Los Angeles passed on the opportunity to keep the young point guard. Although Sessions made an impression on this team during the regular season after being acquired via trade, the 26-year-old failed to make an impact in the playoffs against the likes of Raymond Felton of the Denver Nuggets and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook.
With Sessions not exactly convincing the Lakers’ front office he was the long-term solution for the team, Los Angeles passed on re-signing Sessions to explore other options in Deron Williams and Steve Nash. Williams chose to re-sign with the Brooklyn Nets and Nash decided that Los Angeles was the right fit leaving Sessions to sign as a backup with the Charlotte Bobcats.
Despite Sessions seemingly getting the short-end of the stick in the off-season, the Bobcats guard doesn’t regret being dealt to Los Angeles and only playing with the Lakers for a short while via Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com:
“I definitely wish I could’ve finished what I started,” he said. “There were a couple [playoff] games where we had two or three minutes left and five or six points could’ve turned it and made the difference. But you live and you learn, it was a good experience and something I’ll never forget.”
In 24 games this season with the Bobcats, Sessions has put up decent numbers off the bench averaging 14.6 points and 4.3 assists per game. Although Sessions has improved his points per game average in comparison to last season (12.7 ppg), the Bobcats new backcourt addition is struggling shooting the basketball going 39.4 percent from the floor and 29.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Sessions had a solid game against his former team on Tuesday finishing with 20 points, six assists and four rebounds in 29 minutes off the bench for the Bobcats. The former Laker is in the first season of a two-year contract with the Bobcats worth $5 million a season.
